When the trees loom a mere few feet in front of me, I stop and take a deep breath, searching for the notes of sandalwood and crisp citrus I associate with his cologne. The sudden snap of a twig to my left has my body stiffening and my hands trembling at my sides. It’s not just the darkness that’s triggering, but the way the air holds just a slight hint of dampness, similar to what you would smell before a rainfall, but for me, it smells like that basement.
I grapple with reining in my imagination, I don’t hear the squeak of hinges or the heavy thuds of footfalls, nor can I feel his hot breath on my back or the pain deep inside. None of that exists in the here and now, and I won’t let the pitch-black night convince me otherwise.
With that mantra replaying in my mind, I stride through the wall of trees and let the darkness engulf me. Fear slowly dissipates as I feel myself gearing up for a hunt. After being the prey for so long, I’m due the rush of embracing the hunter, and that’s exactly what I do.
I crowd in close to a large tree trunk as I let my sight acclimatize to the dark, in the meantime, I listen. In here the sounds of the crickets are duller, the full canopy of leaves overhead blocking out all sounds… except for whatever or whoever is in here with me.
Another snap of a twig just in front of me has a grin sliding across my mouth as my eyes narrow. I crouch down as I stare straight ahead, the trees coming into focus before my eyes. If he thought I would come in here screaming and cowering for him, he was wrong.
Adrenaline lights up my body with energy as I see the toe of a boot sticking out from behind a tree about fifteen feet in front of me, but apprehension has my hair sticking up on end. We’ve been training most nights when I have nightmares, usually in the basement to drain the weakness I feel each time I relive the trauma. Never have we been in the woods.
What if he didn’t write that note?
I give myself a shake because that note sounded every bit like him and that boot is his, I just know it. So with that information in mind, I quickly dart up from my crouched position and run forward, knowing I’m sounding like crashing cymbals on a drum set. His chuckle brings a smile to my mouth as I round the tree, readying to grab him, but finding just his boot.
“What the fuck?” I snap as I suck in a breath and search the area around me. Everything is dark and the shadows from the leaves overhead only serve to make it more ominous.
“Were you hunting me, Slayer?” he calls out, his teasing voice coming from back where I was originally crouching.
I back away from the tree and slip behind another, waiting for my heart rate to slow. He is too fucking smart, especially setting up the boot like that. Is he out here without boots on?
Rapid footfalls have me crouching back down as they draw closer, like he’s running through the trees straight for me. He runs by me, his socked feet kicking up dirt and leaves in their wake as he continues going, heading in the opposite direction from where I entered. I wait until he’s a good distance in front of me and then I follow at a jog. The darkness begins to fade the farther I go, and eventually, the trees part and open up into a large meadow.
The moon illuminates the tall, green grass perfectly, and I can see exactly where he ran through it. The grass is bent through the trail created by his feet, a narrow passage whose ending is obscured by the night sky.
He expects me to follow.
The meadow is a near-perfect oval shape, completely surrounded by the tall trees, creating a private refuge for the hunted. So I let him enjoy his few moments of solitude as I slip back under the canopy of leaves and make my way around the meadow toward the other end. The closer I get, the more I can hear the rustling of movement in the grass, the sound too loud to be a small animal.
This time it's my large monster.
I reach the other side and crouch to wait, I know just how thin his patience can be. He doesn’t disappoint me because within minutes I see his head pop up, as if he’s on his knees, and look back in the direction he came from. His hair shines with highlights under the moon’s illumination, the messy bun at his nape nearly falling loose from its confines, but it’s the slope of his cheekbones and the curve of his lips that has my thighs clenching.
Malik Charles is achingly beautiful and the fucker knows it.
I crawl on my hands and knees, careful not to make a sound as I move toward him. The grass rustles as I part it, and I wait, listening for any sign he knows where I am. When nothing happens, I continue through the grass, the tall blades swishing as I move. My hand reaches forward just as a large body plows into me, knocking me to my back, the air escaping my lungs in a loud gasp.
Malik’s large hands wrap around my throat as his knees press into either side of my hips, holding me in place.
“You lose, Slayer.” He bends down close to my face as his brown eyes dance with mirth. “Surrender and say Uncle Malik, it makes me hard.”
With the nightmare still fresh in my system, the anger flares hot and fast, and I zone in on the man above me. With every sense I have, I know it’s Malik, but I can’t seem to shake the heavy grunts and groans of my attacker who still haunts my nights.
My right fist slams into his side, against the soft flesh under his rib cage, making him arch toward the left in time for his cheek to meet my hard left hook. His hands release me as he tumbles to the side with a curse, but I’m too far lost in the inferno of my rage to stop there. Now it’s my turn to straddle him and wrap my hands around the thick column of his throat as he watches me with wide eyes.
He bucks beneath me and in turn receives a sharp slap to the same cheek I punched, making him hiss through a grin. “You want me to say Uncle Slayer?” he taunts, his voice too gravelly, too low-pitched.
I can’t get my attacker out of my head and it’s taking over my life. This energy collecting inside of me is only growing hotter, and I can feel an impending detonation on the horizon. Malik sees it too as his eyes narrow with the tightening of my hands. He taps my wrists and says, “Let’s go for a run, Slayer, you need to burn that shit off.” His neck pulses beneath my palms as he struggles to speak and breathe.
I do need to burn it off, and I need to kill this disgusting feeling I’m holding onto inside.
My hands release his throat and immediately hits the waistband of his track pants, my fingers expertly working the ties.
“Princess, wait.” His hands grab mine as I undo the tie, stopping me from removing his pants. I’m Princess now, not Slayer. That only increases my irritation with the man underneath me. “What are you doing?”
“It’s called intercourse, Malik. Something you’ve been denying me.” I shake off his hands and rise to my knees to haul down my leggings, slipping them over each leg and then tossing them over his head.
“Wait, it’s unhygienic out here in the woods,” he says as his fingers find my wet core. “You just let Uncle Malik here take care of you. Besides, we don’t have a condom.” He smiles at me with self-assurance, as if he has it all figured out.
